


Educational Opportunities

by anthologyofwhat (lea_hazel)



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Anonymous Sex, Comedy of Errors, Dirty Talk, F/F, Implied Relationships, Light Bondage, Lingerie, Mistaken Identity, Prostitution, Tumblr: dragonagefanweek, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-10
Updated: 2013-01-10
Packaged: 2017-12-30 14:49:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1019971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lea_hazel/pseuds/anthologyofwhat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Isabela sneaks Merrill into the Blooming Rose to watch, but Merrill gets lost and mistaken for an employee.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Educational Opportunities

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an anonymous prompt for DAFW's Merrill porn week.

"Why go in through the door when there’s an open window right in front of you?" said Isabela and grinned broadly. 

This logic was difficult to argue with. “I’m not sure I can get up there on my own,” said Merrill, giving the second-story window ledge a dubious look. 

"Here," said Isabela, "let me give you a boost." 

Merrill set her foot on Isabela’s interlocked hands and scrambled with some difficulty up the wall and through the window. Only to land with an undignified thump. She got and rubbed her rear; Isabela had slipped in quickly and silently and was shutting the window behind her. 

"Won’t do to leave evidence at the scene of the crime," she said. 

"Crime?" said Merrill and frowned. "I thought you said this was all legal." 

"Completely on the up-and-up, Kitten," she reassured. "Just a figure of speech, that’s all. Come on, let’s find a nice, safe place for you to watch from." 

"Will you be visiting the man Hawke talked to before he left?" Merrill asked. 

Isabela smiled brashly. “Hawke did make him sound very entertaining. We’ve got to find some way to amuse ourselves when all the boys traipse off out of town and leave us behind.” 

Isabela led Merrill by the hand through the maze of plushly carpeted corridors. Grunts, squeals, and a myriad other odd noises were filtering out from behind closed doors. It was strange to think of so many humans coupling, all under the same roof. Ordinarily they were much more private than the Dalish about such things and didn’t even like to talk about them in public. If you don’t talk about sex, how are the younger clan members ever going to learn about it? But Hawke always became very cross when such things were spoken of around his sister. No wonder the subject made Bethany so nervous. Really, Isabela was the only human Merrill had met so far who was at all sensible about such things. 

"I want to thank you again for letting me watch," said Merrill earnestly as Isabela tucked her into a walk-in wardrobe behung with gauzy scraps. 

"Any time, Kitten," said Isabela and winked. "Really, how else can you be expected to learn something new?" 

"That’s what I’ve been saying!" started Merrill excitedly, but Isabela had already shut the door to a sliver and was swaggering across the room to the door opposite. 

Just then, several things happened all at once. First, Merrill tripped over the trailing fringe of an unidentifiable garment, throwing open the doors of the wardrobe. Second, screeches erupted in the corridor just outside the door, and at the same time a familiar voice called, “Oh captain my captain! Where are you hiding now?” Third, and most importantly, an angry-looking human man tramped into the room and rounded on the doorway. Before he could address whoever stood outside it, his eyes fell on Merrill, who was still trying to untangle herself from a slit-sided orange skirt. 

"Fine!" bellowed the man. "If you want to drop your customer, make the new girl take him! I’m not picking up your slack anymore, Sabina, no matter how hard you scream!" 

An elf woman followed him into the room, but her stomping was much less impressive-sounding. “ _Fine_!” she hollered. “Fine, maybe that’s just what I’ll do!” 

The man stomped back out of the room and the woman turned to regard Merrill resentfully. “You _can’t_ be thinking to wear _that_ , can you?” 

Can she? Merrill didn’t know if she could. Why would a skirt be slit, anyway? It would just let all the cold winds in. 

"Anyway," said the woman, Sabina, "new girls aren’t allowed to pick from that lot. Too _expensive_. I’ll show you what you can wear.” She grabbed Merrill by the wrist, surprisingly strong, and hauled her to her feet. 

As she was being led along the befuddling padded hallways, Merrill contemplated her situation. She was almost completely certain that Sabina had mistaken her for one of her, erm, _co-workers_ , and that meant she was being led to meet an, ahem, _customer_. Now, on the one hand, Merrill was not a prostitute. On the other hand, she had come to the Blooming Rose seeking to expand her sexual education, and this did seem like a marvelously coincidental learning opportunity. Merrill supposed that if things took a turn for the uninformative she could always yell for Isabela, who was sure to drop everything — or everyone — to come fetch her. 

While she was entertaining this line of thought Sabina dragged her to a much smaller, less plush room dominated by a red-covered bed and a standing wooden wardrobe. With head-spinning efficiency Sabina sorted through the wardrobe’s content and tossed a few scraps of fabric at Merrill, who hastily caught the slippery material in her hands. 

"Oh my," she said, spreading out the black and red scraps. "There’s not very much of it." 

"Get changed quick," said Sabina brusquely. "Customers don’t like to wait." 

Merrill wriggled into the outfit with equanimity and uncertainly tied the red sash around her waist. It left her legs, arms and shoulders completely bare, which was a novel sensation. Suddenly it occurred to her that she could wear this costume under her everyday robes and no one would even realize. This was an odd thought to say the least, but Merrill didn’t get the chance to dwell on it further, because a voice was speaking behind her. 

"You’re new, aren’t you?" said the voice. "I thought I knew all of Madame Lusine’s elf girls by now, but I don’t recognize you. I mean, what’s the point of marrying for money if you don’t get the premium service?" 

It was a tall human woman whose yellow hair curled prettily at the tips. A wicked smile, an almost Isabela-like smile, tugged at the corner of her mouth. 

"Don’t you agree?" she said, running her finger down Merrill’s cheek and throat. "My, you’re a pretty one." 

A pleasant tingle ran down her spine. “I… suppose so?” 

The woman laughed and hooked her fingers into the sash around Merrill’s waist. “Such a sweet, pink blush! I think I like you. What shall I call you?” 

"Mm— mer— Melora," she stammered. 

"You may call me Elegant," said the stranger, her breath hot and close against Merrill’s ear. "I knew a lovely elf maiden, once. She had the loveliest golden locks, and she blushed so prettily when I kissed her, just like you." 

Merrill had not been kissed in some time, so she was glad of the warning. Briefly she panicked and wondered whether she was out of practice and her kisses would be sloppy and entirely too wet, like Pol’s when he was drunk that one time, before the Keeper forbade him from getting into the mead. But Elegant’s kiss was much nicer, warm and deep, and distracting enough that she didn’t realize she was being backed up until her knees hit the side of the bed and buckled. 

Her fingers toyed with the red sash. “Do you think we could do something interesting with this, Melora? Would you like it if I tied you up? Say… your wrists… to that headboard over there?” 

Merrill squeaked and turned her head awkwardly to glance at the carved wooden headboard. 

Elegant laughed softly, already pulling the crimson silk off her waist, twining it between her fingers thoughtfully.

"You do remind me of her," she said idly while she knotted the silk between Merrill’s bound wrists. "She had the sweetest candy kisses, but she was a fiend with a knife. Dangerous, for a pretty little thing. Are you a dangerous girl? Do you like knives, Melora?" 

"Oh," said Merrill, who couldn’t help but tug at her bindings even though it only made them tighter, "oh, I don’t know…" 

"Maybe next time," said Elegant and slipped a quiet sigh. "But," she said, perking up, "why waste time thinking about tomorrow when we are in the here and now?" 

The thought of there being a next time, although very nice, melted quickly out of Merrill’s mind when Elegant’s hand slipped quite naturally into the cup of her bodice. When her other hand spider-walked up her inner thigh, she felt a low hum build in her throat. Elegant’s arms curled possessively around her while she leaned in close to murmur in her ear. 

"Sweet girl," she breathed hotly, "don’t you wish you could slip the leash and let out your true self now and then? Don’t lie, I know what thoughts are really going through your mind. You can’t fool me, my sweet." 

Her words and teasing fingertips had their effect. Merrill was already gasping for breath when she felt the heel of her palm pressing hard through the rich satin. She cried out, pressing down and pulling even harder on her bonds, grinding against the contact and shakily sinking down into the soft bed. 

"You are a wicked girl, Melora," whispered Elegant in her ear. "I can’t remember when I’ve seen someone climax so quickly. Now, let us see if you can return the favor." 

She was panting too hard to answer. 

Elegant traced a fingertip over her lower lip. “Don’t worry, I have better uses for your mouth than talking. If you please me, maybe I’ll feel moved to give you another.” 

Merrill had no idea if she knew how to please a woman, other than herself, that was. But Elegant had no intention of untying Merrill’s hands. Instead she stripped off her gown and knelt, bare, with her knees to either side of Merrill’s body. Low over her face she split herself with the fingers of one hand while her other hand took firm purchase in Merrill’s hair. Her nose was filled with the heavy, musky smell of her arousal, the taste of her was on the tip of her tongue, her lips, her whole mouth. She guessed she was doing right when Elegant’s hand tightened in her hair and her moans rose in pitch to a high keen. 

Elegant straddled her waist and pressed her whole body against her, her face was filled with damp strands of hair clinging to her forehead, and she nuzzled into Merrill’s neck with a wet kiss. Her yellow hair smelled of sweat and faintly of rosewater and her body was heavy against Merrill’s skin. 

"Not bad for your first time with a woman," she said, sighing contentedly. 

"How did you know?" asked Merrill. 

"It wasn’t hard to guess," said Elegant carelessly. "The Rose doesn’t get that many women as customers, after all." 

"Was I… all right?" she asked, a little nervously. 

"Don’t worry about it, sweet girl," said Elegant and petted her face. "I won’t complain to your employer about getting a first-timer." 

A timely rap on the door nipped that line of conversation in the bud. 

"Our time together seems to be at an end," said Elegant, raising herself to a sitting position with obvious reluctance. She stretched luxuriously and donned her gown before she saw fit to tend to Merrill’s bindings. She had pulled them so tight that it took an insistent tug with her teeth before the knot finally gave way. 

The second knock was louder, and accompanied by a sharp, “Oy! Last warning!” 

With nary a look behind her Elegant sauntered out the door and disappeared. Suddenly Merrill was deeply conscious of how little she was wearing. She fumbled to pull on her robes and stuffed the red silk sash into an empty pocket. 

"Hey! You there!" an agitated voice whispered behind her. 

A second, hidden door had opened in the bedroom wall, and in it stood a cross-looking elf man. He glared and gestured for her to join him. 

"Get in here!" he whispered. "Quick!" 

He scanned the room one last time and shut the door firmly behind them. Grabbing her by both arms, he turned her this way and that and gave her a critical once-over. 

"No harm done, I suppose," he finally said. "What she was thinking bringing you in here, the Void only knows. Last time someone lost a Dalish in the Rose it nearly ended in blood." 

Merrill blinked. “What?” 

He fixed her with a suspicious look. “You _are_ Isabela’s elf, aren’t you?” 

"Oh," said Merrill. That was… something she could understand, at least. "I suppose I am." 

"Good," he said, breathing a heavy sigh. He linked his arm firmly through hers and tugged her in the opposite direction. "Let’s get you back to the Captain before she realizes you were lost. And for Andraste’s sake, _wash your face_. You smell like sex.” 

"How did you like your visit to the Rose, Kitten?" Isabela asked her later, when they were playing cards in the Hanged Man. 

"It was… surprising," said Merrill slowly. 

Isabela laughed. “As long as you learned something.” 

"Oh, I did," Merrill reassured her. 

"Just don’t tell Varric, or Hawke for that matter," said Isabela. "They’ll be so upset I’ve been corrupting their Daisy." 

"Oh, no," said Merrill firmly. "You did no such thing." 


End file.
